Looking from Within

Introduction

The essential difference between an animal and a human being, states Sri Aurobindo, is that the animal "cannot get for one moment away from its origins... and become something greater than its present self, a more free, magnificent and noble being",¹ whereas the human being has the potential ability to exceed and even transform the basic instinctive nature which he shares with the animal. Therefore, whereas the animal always remains an animal, man can grow into a being who is as much above the human being as the human being is above the animal.

This immense difference between man and animal is due to several distinguishing features of their psychological natures. First, consciousness in the human being has developed the power of detachment, that is, of standing back and observing things as a spectator.² Human consciousness can detach itself and stand back not only from what lies outside in the environment but also from internal thoughts and feelings, thus dividing itself into a part that observes and a part that is observed. This power of detachment makes for a reflective intelligence which a human

1. Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Vol. 21 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram), p. 598.

2. "It (consciousness] is not by its nature detached from the mental and other activities. It can be detached, it can be involved. In the human consciousness it is as a rule always involved, but it has developed the power of detaching itself - a thing which the lower creation seems unable to do. As the consciousness develops, this power of detachment also develops." - Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Vol. 23 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram), p. 686.

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being is capable of exercising as distinguished from the reactive intelligence of the animal. With the power of detachment and a reflective intelligence, the human being can control, modify and overcome the force of instincts and impulses, unlike the animal which cannot act contrary to its innate nature. Secondly, though all behaviour in the animal as well as in the human being is purposive, that is, directed towards the fulfilment of some purpose or goal, the human being, as distinguished from the animal, has the potential of conceiving and pursuing higher goals - moral, intellectual and aesthetic - beyond the basic ones related to physical and biological existence. Thirdly, the more highly developed human being, in contrast to the animal. is discontented with what he is, and feels an urge for growth towards what he conceives to be an ideal state of being. A fourth distinguishing human characteristic - and this brings us to the subject-matter of this book - is that the human mind, unlike that of the animal, can look at something and react to it from different perspectives. In other words, the human being can adopt different attitudes to the same thing, event or circumstance. The enormous significance of this human characteristic is implicit in a statement made by William James. one of the most celebrated psychologists: "The greatest discovery of my generation is that men can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind".

What is meant by "attitude'"? The phrase "attitudes of mind" used by James obviously implies that attitudes have something to do with the mind. Thus dictionaries define attitude as "a way of thinking" or as "a mental view". A further understanding of the term is provided by psychology which defines attitude as an "internal affective

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orientation that would explain the actions of a person".³ This psychological definition indicates that an attitude is not merely a way of thinking but also a way of feeling - an affective or emotional disposition - which determines a person's actions. In psychological jargon, an attitude has cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling) and cognitive (willing) components. Therefore, a change in one's attitude towards a thing, person, circumstance or event implies change in the way one thinks, feels and is disposed to act in relation to the thing, person, circumstance or event.⁴

The psychology of yoga throws further light on the nature of attitudes. Unlike modern psychology which lumps all psychological functions into what is called "mind", the psychology of yoga looks upon man's subjective nature as a composite of distinct though intermixed and interacting parts of the being, each with its own characteristic consciousness. This yoga concept of parts of the being is extremely helpful in understanding attitudes, because different attitudes are related to different parts of the being and their different types of consciousness. One's predominant attitudes depend on the part of the being which is dominant in one's nature. Broadly speaking, there are two divisions in the human being - the outer being, which constitutes the personality (from the Latin persona, "mask"), and the inner being, the true Being or

3. Arthur S. Reber, The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, 1987, s.v. "attitude".

4. This point has been elaborated in "Attitudes, Mental Health and Yoga" in A.S. Dalal, Psychology, Mental Health and Yoga, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, and Ojai, California: Institute of Integral Psychology. 1991).

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the Person who uses the outer mask of the personality. ⁵ The outer being is only an instrument as a means of expression; it is not one's real self. However, ordinarily we are identified with the outer being and regard it as our self. Therefore it is the outer being that usually expresses itself in our attitudes and actions.

The outer being is made up of three parts, each with its own distinct type of consciousness, distinguishable by its characteristic traits or qualities which are reflected in the attitudes pertaining to it. A description of these parts of the being is given below, using Sri Aurobindo's terminology.

The physical (being): Though people generally attribute consciousness and intelligence only to the mind, and look upon the body as something mechanical, the psychology of yoga reveals that the body is endowed with its own characteristic consciousness and intelligence. It is the consciousness in the body which regulates the complex workings of the different bodily organs and physiological systems. Though the mind exhibits a higher form of consciousness and intelligence than that of the body, it cannot but marvel at the wisdom of the body expressed in the various processes which maintain the body in health and heal it in illness or accident. However, physical consciousness, as compared to mental consciousness, is seen to be relatively inert, obscure, narrow or limited, and automatic or mechanical in its functionings. Thus attitudes which are characterised by rigidity, narrowness, conservatism

5. In the Sankhya school of Indian philosophy, the outer and the inner divisions of the being are called Prakriti (Nature) and Purusha (Person) respectively.

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or slowness to change, indifference or boredom, and habitual or routine modes of action and reaction are related to the physical part of our being.

The vital (being): Intermediate between the physical and the mental is the vital, made up of life-energies, sensations (pleasure, pain, etc.), instincts and impulses (anger, fear, lust, etc.), desires, feelings and emotions. The vital (from the Latin word vita, "life"), is aptly so called because it is the source of life-force and seeks after life for its own sake, clinging to life even if it brings more of suffering than of pleasure. The vital consciousness is characterised by likes and dislikes, the search for pleasure and enjoyment, and the avoidance of pain and discomfort, desire to possess and to accumulate. Common attitudes based on the vital consciousness express a hedonistic orientation in life, what Freud referred to as "the pleasure principle". Besides the quest for pleasure these attitudes are characterised by a need for perpetual variety and change, ambitiousness, attachment and repulsion, aggression, fear and impulsiveness.

The mental (being): This is the part of our make-up which has to do with thoughts and ideas, facts and knowledge. Reason and intellect are the most highly developed expressions of the mental consciousness. In contrast to the vital which is governed by the pleasure principle, the mental is guided by what accords with reason and is deemed to be true or good. Therefore when the mental consciousness is predominant in an individual, the attitudes of the individual are characterised by a rational outlook and are based on moral and intellectual principles.
The differences among the parts of the outer being

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described above are illustrated in Table 1 in relation to attitudes towards (1) life, (2) oneself and others, (3) work, and (4) difficulties.

It is interesting to note that the psychiatrist Karl Menninger. in describing the behaviour of human beings when faced with difficulties and obstacles in life, employs concepts which are analogous to the concepts of yoga psychology mentioned above. There are, says Menninger, five stages in man's response to life crises: Panic, Inertia, Striving, Coping, Mastery.⁶ Panic, a characteristic of the vital consciousness, is often the first reaction to stress because in most human beings the vital is the predominant part of their nature. Inertia, which is the chief characteristic of the physical consciousness, may precede the stage of Panic as in the case of individuals who, dominated by the physical consciousness, lead a life of apathy until they are goaded by a dire difficulty which throws them into a state of panic. But the stage of Inertia often follows upon that of Panic when an individual, paralysed by an overwhelming difficulty, resigns himself to it or tries to escape from it. In terms of yoga psychology, such an individual, normally living predominantly in the vital consciousness, temporarily regresses as a result of stress to a state dominated by the physical consciousness. However, sooner or later, the majority of individuals recover at least to some extent from the initial reactions of panic and inertia, and learn to confront and combat their difficulties, thus entering the stage of Striving.

6. A further discussion of the subject will be found in ··Mastery. Mental Health and Yoga" in A.S. Dalal, Psychology, Mental Health and Yoga.

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In this stage, an individual, still living primarily in the vital consciousness, struggles against difficulties with the reactions of the vital consciousness, namely, instincts and impulses. But instinctive reactions, which serve the animal marvellously well in its struggle for existence, are inadequate guides for a human being because, in the first place, instincts in man are far inferior to those in the animal, and. secondly, because the problems which a human being has to tackle are far more complex than those faced by an animal, calling for an intelligence which can see beyond a limited sphere, where instincts are proverbially regarded as blind. Moreover, instincts in themselves pose a problem to the human being because of the perpetual conflicts between one instinct and another, and between instinct and reason. Thus, besides being inadequate for helping man in mastering the problems of life, instincts create an additional problem for the human being - the problem of self-mastery. Feelings and emotions, which, like instincts, also pertain to the vital consciousness, are indeed much more highly developed in the human being than even in the highest species of animal, but they have the same essential drawbacks as instincts: they operate within too narrow a sphere - primarily that of inter-personal relations - and, like instincts, they are fraught with conflict.

In the stage of Striving, during which human beings try to come to grips with the problems of life-mastery and self-mastery while still living predominantly in the vital consciousness, life is more or less a blind struggle, a groping towards ill-perceived and ever-eluding goals. The course of life is determined mostly by forces other than one's conscious choices and deliberate decisions. Therefore one's internal state is characterised by feelings of

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uncertainty, insecurity, conflict, anxiety and tension.

It is with the growth of the mental consciousness that one progressively learns to cope with the various internal and external stresses which every individual experiences in life. The stage of Coping, which is ushered in by the use of the power of reason and the exercise of mental will in the governance of life, is characterised by a certain sense of direction, inner ease, security and confidence.

Mastery, as conceived by Menninger, represents a further stage of psychological development when an individual no longer feels preyed upon by internal and external stresses, and meets the challenges of life with a clear sense of purpose, and with poise and serenity. From the viewpoint of yoga psychology, such a state of mastery pertains to a deeper consciousness than that of the outer being described previously. The deeper consciousness is that of the inner being, the Person within who is concealed by the outer being and whom we discover progressively with inner growth. Behind the physical, the vital and the mental parts of the outer being there is an inner or true physical, an inner or true vital and an inner or true mental which constitute our inner or true being. And behind both the outer and inner being is the innermost being, called by Sri Aurobindo the psychic, the individual soul, supporting the mental, vital, physical and psychic evolution of the being. Mastery, from the viewpoint of yoga psychology, begins when an individual, no longer completely identified with the physical, vital and mental personality of the outer being, learns to live progressively in the deeper consciousness of the Person within. The attitudes of the inner consciousness from which such an individual looks at and reacts to everything in life are the subject-matter of

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this book. Cultivating these inner attitudes, which are partly illustrated in Table 2, is an effective means for growing into that deeper consciousness of freedom and mastery.

A purely animal existence, governed by the vital consciousness, represents, in Menninger's terms, the stage of Striving, popularly described as the animal's struggle for existence. Though human beings are endowed with mental consciousness and have therefore learned to some extent to cope with the problems of life, most human beings are still primarily ruled by the vital consciousness, and therefore lead a life largely characterised by striving and struggling, very similar to that of the animal. But, unlike the animal, the human being, as previously stated, is a discontented creature, for he knows in the recesses of his inmost being that he has the power to free himself

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from the bonds of animal existence and become master of his destiny. As the Mother remarks:

" ... the vast majority of men are like prisoners with all the doors and windows closed, so they suffocate, which is quite natural. But they have with them the key that opens the doors and windows..."   ⁷

This book offers help for using the key.

A. S. DALAL

7. The Mother, Questions and Answers 1957-58. Collected Works of the Mother. Vol. 9 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram). p. 431.